Jury trial begins in Summerside

The jury was selected Monday for Gregory Stuart Collicutt’s trial in Summerside.

The O’Leary man is charged with dangerous driving causing death in the Oct. 9, 2015, crash that killed Dorothy Mae Mayhew, 67, of Lady Fane.

The collision happened at the intersection of Route 10 and Route 1A in Central Bedeque.

Mayhew and Collicutt were alone in their vehicles.

Collicutt has pleaded not guilty to the charge. It is estimated it will take a full week to hear the case.

This is the first jury trial to take place at the Prince County Courthouse in several years.

Monday morning’s proceedings consisted of the jury selection process. The pool of potential jurors was reduced from about 60 to 12, five men and seven women.

Once the jury selection was complete, Judge Tracey Clements spent about an hour and a half instructing them on their obligations and how some of the procedural matters of the trial will unfold.

In explaining her own roll and that of the jury, as those who will ultimately decide if Collicutt is guilty or not, Clements said to them: “You are the judge of the facts and I am the judge of the law.”

In his opening remarks, Crown attorney John Diamond said he intended to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, Collicutt failed to yield the right-of-way to Mayhew while he was turning from Route 10 onto Route 1A, and he was travelling at a relatively high rate of speed.

He also indicated he was going to call up to 14 witnesses, including various RCMP officers, physicians, people who came upon the scene of the crash just after it happened and people who had interactions with Collicutt on the morning prior to the crash.

The jury heard from three witnesses Monday before proceedings ended. One was a tow truck driver, who came upon the scene of the crash shortly after it happened and called 911. He returned later in the day to tow away both vehicles.

The other two witnesses were a woman whom Collicutt had travelled to Borden-Carleton to visit on the morning of the crash and her roommate, who informed Collicutt the woman was in Truro, N.S.

The woman testified she had a good relationship with Collicutt and had not expected a visit from him that morning. Her roommate testified that although his interaction with Collicutt was brief, he did not seem hurried or otherwise distressed as they spoke.

The collision happened shortly after Collicutt left the Borden-Carleton home.

The trial continues today at 9:30 a.m.